Palabra Pura: “Weather / Whether”

The Guild Literary Complex (GLC) continues the eighth year of Palabra Pura with an evening of bilingual poetry titled, “Whether in Chicago.” Curated by Rafael Franco, this event asks us to consider what role, if any, weather plays, whether significantly or not, in writing and how that writing might weather the winds of literary exploration. The event will include poetry in Spanish, English, and Spanglish.Featured readers include performance duo Zigtebra and Alex Bonner.

Rafael Franco writes, acts, and shoots photography. His collection of short stories – Alaska – received the first annual National Short Story Prize from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in 2006. His next book is titled Las Macrónicas del Temponauta and will be published in the spring by Colección Maravilla on the island. An experimental novel incorporating poetry, photography, and metafiction, Las Macrónicas is the first salvo in an ambitious literary project that jumps across genres through a series of books collectively known as Los IV Libros de la Inmortalidad, though there are more than four books and everybody dies. He is currently collaborating with fellow Antillean author and performer Rey Andújar on theater projects under the shared moniker: ReHab & Denial.

Zigtebra is a half-sibling performance pop-rock duo whose name comes from a mashup of a Zebra (emily) and a Tiger (joseph).  They met two and half years ago in a dance troop called Pure Magical Love and upon discovering their relatedness, teamed up to write songs married to performance.  Over the past year their shows have included a Leonard Cohen musical, “The Red Pony” play, “The Parrot and the Pirate,” “Psychic Psyblings” cassette tape release, and a recent appearance on CAN-TV’s “Chic-A-Go-Go.”